Thankful

Vintage DilbertMarch 6, 2000

A friend of mine was driving through an intersection one day and his little four-year-old son was in the car with him. The car door flew open, and the little boy rolled out of the vehicle right into the middle of traffic coming from four ways. The last thing my friend saw was a set of car wheels just about on top of his son, moving at a very fast rate of speed.

All he knew to do was cry, “JESUS!” As soon as he could bring his car to a halt, he jumped out and ran to his son, who was perfectly all right.

But the man driving the car that had almost hit the child was absolutely hysterical. My friend went over to him and started trying to comfort him.

“Man, don’t be upset!” he said. “My son is all right, he’s okay. Don’t be concerned about it. Just thank God you were able to stop!”

I had a somewhat similar experience. I used make deliveries, driving a 15′ high cube van. One day, I was in the center lane and wanted to move right into the inside lane. I couldn’t! It was almost as if the steering wheel were fighting me. I tried a couple of times. Finally, in the side mirror, I saw there was a car right next to me. If I had been able to move over, we would have collided. Not as dramatic as your story, to be sure, but I was thankful, and shaken, nevertheless. I hope one day we’ll be able to see the countless ways God has protected us.

This story is amazing, in more ways than one. A similar thing happened to me. When my sons were younger, age five and four, we lived off an expressway service drive. One night on our way to pick up their mother I placed each boy in the backseat and buckled them in. I started out and made a right turn at the corner. After traveling about five hundred feet I felt a gust of wind from the backseat. I looked to see if one of the boys had rolled the window down. To my horror, the back driver’s door was wide opened and my four year old son was no longer in the car.

In the rear view mirror I could see him running for the car. Behind him was the expressway exit ramp. I stopped the car as fast as I could and screamed, “OH, GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!” I never ran so fast in my life. When I got to him I cradled my crying son in my arms and we quickly made our way back to the car.

After putting him in his seatbelt and checking the other brother, I drove on. What amazed me, in all the years we lived near that expressway, there was always a constant flow of traffic exiting on that ramp. That night, not one car exited at that time.

I was extremely grateful that my sons were safe, however, the whole thing left me asking myself one question: how did my son get out of his seatbelt, open the door and fall out? After some prodding, I got my older son to confess. He unlatched his brother’s seatbelt, opened his door, and watched him roll out without saying a word. Why? “I don’t know,” was all he offered.

Needless to say, after that incident I kept a constant ear on what’s going on in the backseat. Sometimes, we laugh about that night, but to this day it pains me to think what could have happened if the Lord had not been there to save my son. One thing for sure: I’m so thankful He was there for me and my sons and for your friend and his son.

At Bible Study the other night, I asked the group, “How many of you have experienced a miracle?” All twenty-five in attendance raised their hands! Some shared remarkable stories. One man told us that decades earlier, a doctor had wanted to amputate several fingers from his right hand, due to burn injuries. Today, you have to look close to even detect a scar. God is still taking care of his children in astounding ways–every day!